Welcome To Slunderland
by amy.rose.1994
Summary: A 17 Year old Girl Discovers a family gene she never saw coming.
1. Chapter 1  Welcome

Welcome to Slunderland - Chapter 1- Welcome

I couldn't breathe. I didn't know where I was or what I was doing but I knew I did not want to risk opening my eyes. As my lungs kept collapsing and my throat started burning I knew I needed air, but I did not know which way to go nor if where I would end up was the right place to be. Then out of nowhere something wrapped itself around my arm and pulled me up in one swift motion. Then all of a sudden I could breathe again but I still could not open my eyes, even if just because of the pure fear factor.

After what seemed like forever I finally opened my eyes, I was lying on solid ground, but it didn't feel like it was grass. When I looked below me I realized that what I was lying on was not the same color as grass, in fact it was the complete opposite; I was lying on some ground that was the same color as the grape jelly I had eaten earlier. But it felt like instead of hundreds of little blades of grass underneath me, hundreds of little pillows. Standing all around me are five of what looked like men and one woman. Her arms looked like they were blocking the men from going at me. As I started to move my head they all gasped and all I can say is, "Uh, my name is Violet."

Within a matter of two seconds the woman picked me up and set me right back down again except this time I was on a newly cut down tree stump. With her arms still in a huge circle of what looked like protection the woman spoke first. "Well hello Violet, welcome to Slunderland." She looked at my arm, "That's a nasty scar you got there, sorry 'bout that my nails are a little long. I can wrap that up in one swift motion." So she did, and all of a sudden I had a bright blue bandana wrapped around my arm.

"What are you people?" I said as I leaned forward and whispered in her ear,

"Well Violet," She said "Not only are we the ones who saved you from the swamp you nearly drowned in, but we are also a breed of creature that has never been made outside of Slunderland, though my father has tried."

"What do you mean outside of Slunderland, where is this place?" I asked

"Well Violet, I guess you have a lot to learn," she laughed

"Memesa, he is ready to speak with the girl now." one of the men whispered to her

"Her name is Violet," she replied "and we will go when I am done speaking to her, believe me I can repay him the time he is losing with her."

It was pitch black. The only things I can see are the silver eyes of the men and woman creatures that saved me. Then as we neared the end of the isle a big chair spun around and a very tall man with long white hair stood up, faced me and said, "You must be Violet"

"Yes, yes I am."

"Well, Miss Violet I see you have met my wonderful daughter Memesa."

"Yes I have, she saved my life." As I blushed I realized just how much Memesa and her father looked alike, they were almost identical.

"Yes she informed me of that." he smiled a big smile showing most of his teeth, it even sounded like he was laughing a little. "Now, before I get started do you have any questions for me?"

"Just two," I cleared my throat, "How did I get here and who are these," I decided to whisper, "creatures?"

"Well," he laughed "these creatures so you have called them are a creation of my mind." He paused "Each one has its own special features but all have the same basic structure of my late wife and I."

"How about your daughter?" I hesitated

"Pure combination of my wife and I, like most children," he pondered what to say next, "Although I have spent extensive hours training her to take her specialties to their extent."

He started to get nervous all of a sudden and I got worried so I decided that I needed to be direct with him. "What about my other question?"

"For me to answer that," he looked at his watch, "give me about 45 seconds."

Suddenly I felt like I was going to faint and one of the men came and placed one arm below my back as I fell backward.


	2. Chapter 2 The Big Question

Welcome to Slunderland—Chapter 2 – The Big Question

I was tossing and turning. When I opened my eyes I was in my bedroom, with my alarm blaring and my mom screaming my name. "Violet get down here A.S.A.P. you cannot be late for the first day of school."

I kept telling myself it was just a dream, a really freaky, really real dream. Then I went to go get dressed then I see it, the blue bandana on my arm, this is what made me realized that it wasn't just a dream somehow it was real. It was a reality that I dreamed about and what happened to me there happened to me in real life.

I ran down the stairs, grabbed a cereal bar and sprinted to the bus stop. At the bus stop my best friend and I went on with our normal conversation and I tried to forget about the dream I had last night. When I got to school I walked into first period English and the first assignment we were given is to write a paper on what we did this summer. I know that this is going to be an interesting assignment, especially since I spent most of my summer in Italy.

This summer was the first time I had seen my dad in five years, after my mom and him divorced when I was twelve he moved to Italy and never looked back. But for some reason he insisted on seeing me this summer, he said that he had a feeling that there was going to be something big he wanted to inform me about. So I went there for a whole month, missed spending my seventeenth birthday with my friends, and the biggest party of the century. But as I kind of expected there was no surprise at all, I mean I half expected a marriage proposal to some whore, but the nothing big happening was no surprise.

After three more periods and lunch I headed home and to my surprise there were three messages all from the same number.

_"Hey Vi, just wanted to call to see how the rest or you summer was and to see if you're feeling okay. Let me know. Love you, Dad." _My dad called me three times; I did not know it was possible. Plus what could he possibly mean by asking me if I am feeling okay? Whatever the reason is I am pretty sure I do not want to know so I think I am going to ignore it and just go and lie down.

"Welcome back Miss Violet," the big man with the white hair said as I stood straight up and steadied myself. "You look like you have had a long day."

"What the heck just happened?" I said in a near shock state.

"You went to sleep which caused you to come back to Slunderland," He stepped down off of the stage where his chair was, "You see Slunderland is a land that was created by me many, many years ago. It is a land that is activated by dreams but affects you in real life as well. But after I had kids it seemed that the gene to be able to come to this world has been passed on to all of the generations to come after me. I was informed by my first son that it seems to be activated at the age of seventeen"

Seventeen it finally clued in but I was still a little hesitant so I asked one more question, "Are you related to me somehow?"

He laughed, and nearly slipped. "Your daddy really has not told you anything about your family tree has he?"

"My mom divorced my dad when I was twelve."

"Yes I know, very tragic," He walked right up to me, "Violet I think you need to have a talk with your dad."

"I spent a whole month with my dad this summer," I pushed him away "He never mentioned any of this, even on my seventeenth birthday."

"Yes I know he feels very bad about that."

"How do you know so much about my life with my dad?"

"I told you," he looked me right in the eye, "my genes have been passed on generation, to generation. Your father is my great-great grandson. He has come to this land many times. After a while you learn to control it, you learn how to come as you wish rather than every time you have a dream and you will learn how to visualize where you want to arrive rather than just arriving randomly. And when you become really used to it, you will learn how to keep this land alive when you wake up rather than it pausing where you left off." He turned to go back to his chair.

"So you're my great-great-great grandfather?" It all started to make sense. If this man I had never known about is one of my ancestors, and he really did create this special gene that would explain why my dad had to be with me on my seventeenth birthday as well as having something really important to tell me.

"Yes I am," he sat down and spun his chair around so that his back was to me, "and I am sure you are now realizing why your dad wanted to talk to you so urgently over your seventeenth birthday. Now Violet I would advise you to call your dad and he can inform you of anything you need to know."

"Why can't you?" I think he can tell I really do not want to talk to my dad.

"Well I can't tell you because in about sixty seconds you will wake up and this whole world will pause."

"What do you..." I sat right up on the couch, "mean?"

"Vi where are you?"

" In here mom." as my mom walked in I started to wonder if she knew what powers dad had and if she could help with the explanation of what I was going through, because I really do not want to call my dad. "Mom,"

"Yes sweetie?"

"Did dad tell you anything that is special to his family? Something that is passed through his genes?"

"You mean other than severe shortness? No, why?"

"School project, no big deal."

"Okay sweetie, well you know you could always just call your dad. I know you do not have a real fondness for him but I am sure he would love to help."

So that's what I did, I cannot believe I did but I did. I decided to call my dad, although one thing is for sure, I was nervous as ever. So I went to my bed room, closed the door, and started playing my music so that my mom could not hear what I was saying.

As it was ringing I started getting butterflies in my stomach, I did not know what he was going to say when I brought up the biggest question of my seventeen years of living. But I also knew that if anyone could understand, it would be him.

_"Hello?"_

"Dad?"

_"Hello Violet, nice to hear from you." _He sounded genuinely surprised almost like he had forgotten he left the messages.

"Yeah, well I was thinking about the messages you left me and I think you are onto something."

_"What do you mean sweetie?"_

"Well, you were right to wonder if I am feeling okay. I have been feeling a little off lately," I hesitated "and I was wondering if you could shed a little light on why I am feeling this way."

_"What do you need hun?"_

"What is Slunderland?" All of a sudden the phone line went silent. I had never heard my dad not say anything but I knew that this was probably a little bit of a surprise question. He probably figured that the dreams would start just after my seventeenth birthday, not two months later. So now I can only imagine that he had the feeling that they were not coming at all, and that this was an even bigger surprise then I was waiting for him to have.

_"Hunny," _I could hear the hesitation in his voice,_ "I need you to inform your mother that I am coming for a visit. I will rent a hotel room and I would greatly appreciate it if you would stay with me for a little while." _He swallowed and took a deep breath. This was probably not what he expected when he picked up the phone._ "But please do not tell her about the dreams, I have spent many a year keeping this from your mother and I would appreciate it if the news did not come from her daughter. I will answer all of your questions when I get there. Okay?"_

He sounded nervous, like I would say no. So I knew that I had to say yes, even if it was just for his sake. "Okay dad." Then the line went dead all I could hear were the dial tones of the phone lines. I knew I needed to do this but I did not know how I was going to explain this to my mom. I had been so distant from my dad since he left then all of a sudden I spent a month with him and now I wanted to spend the whole week with him while he came for a surprise visit. I know that this is going to be an interesting conversation.


	3. Chapter 3 One Week

Welcome to Slunderland—Chapter 3 – One Week

**I was very hesitant. **"Hey, Mom?" I nearly fell walking down the stairs and going to inform her of the fact that I am planning on going to spend a whole week with my dad. I have no idea what she is going to say nor do I know how I am going to explain to her the fact that my dad wants to come for a surprise visit.

"In the kitchen sweetie." As she turned to meet my gaze it made me even more nervous. When my dad had called to ask for me to spend a month of summer with him she had been crushed. After they divorced my dad did not speak to us and then he just randomly started to again it was hard for her. But she knew that the twelve years I knew him I was a daddy's girl, so although she was hesitant she allowed me to go. Now this conversation was probably something she was never expecting.

"I have something to tell you!" I said in the happiest, soothing voice I possibly could.

"Sounds exciting! What is it?"

"Dad is coming for a visit, and he wants me to spend the week with him at his hotel." The look on her face sent a shudder down my spine.

"Excuse me?" She sounded as pissed off as someone can be. "There is no way I am allowing this to happen, if your father would like to come for a visit I will force him to stay here. The last thing I need is for him to take you away for another week, you cannot miss school."

" I am not going to miss school mom," I took a deep breath as she turned away from me, " I will go to school during the day and go back to his hotel during the evening and the night, he is just coming here for work and wants to spend some time with me."

"Hunny, I love you but your dad is a journalist for an Italian newspaper there is a very slim chance that I would believe his story of work in Canada." She sighed and put her hands on my shoulders, "But if you believe him and you truly want to do this, I suppose you can go." I put my arms around her in a hug.

"Thank you Mom!" I looked up at her from our hug, "Just so you know, I was going whether you said yes or no."

"I know sweetie." She smiled and giggled.

Forty-eight hours later I was sitting in the airport lobby waiting for my dad to arrive from Italy. I guess I should of expected the busyness of the airport, I mean they say that Saturday's are the busiest days of the week at Pearson International Airport, especially right after summer when everyone was getting back from their vacations or even leaving on discounted vacations. That's when I hear it, the low baritone voice of my father. As I turn around in my seat I see him complaining to a lost and found attendant he is clearly scaring with the fact that he could flick him across the room like a fly if he truly wanted to. My father is six foot two inches with the arms of a wrestler, the legs of a hockey player with his pads on and the face of a sympathetic giant. Although he is the scariest looking person I have ever met. He is also the sweetest, kindest person I have ever met. After the divorce my dad dealt with the loneliness by going to the gym and working off the steam.

"Daddy!" As I ran towards him he turned around and opened his arms as I jumped into his big chest.

"Violet, How is my favorite daughter?"

"She's pretty good, how's my favorite dad?"

"He's good and excited to be here." He put me down and said, "Come on lets go to my hotel."

After a forty-five minute car ride we finally arrived at his hotel. We went up to his room on the top floor, of course, and as I sat down on the couch he called room service and came and sat across from me backwards on a chair.

"How in the world did you convince your mom to let me come and stay with me for the week?" He hesitated as he brought up the topic of my mom.

"I told her that I was not going to miss school because you were out at meetings."

"Hunny I love you, but I am a journalist for an Italian magazine, what business would I have in Canada?" He laughed, "But I am glad she bought it! Where should we start?"

"Okay, how about what the heck is Slunderland?"

"Well how about you start by telling me what your Great-Great-Great grandfather Joe told you."

"Nothing really he told me that you would be able to tell me anything I wanted to know."

"That's just like him; he likes to hear how other people tell his story"

"Has he not told you any of this?"

"Vi, Joe is in an eternal sleep he has no way to contact me."

"What about when you go to Slunderland?"

"No one really goes to Slunderland much anymore, since you turned seventeen that is."

"What do I have to do with it?"

"You are the youngest generation; you control when the world pauses and when it is moving. So unless they are asleep at the same time as you then there is no such thing as Slunderland. But that is why I wanted to spend some more time with you, so I can help you transition while waking up so that you do not pause it as well as teach you how to go whenever you want rather than every time you fall asleep."

"I don't know, I mean is there not a way to take the gene out of me. This whole situation kind of scares me. It's a lot of responsibility."

"Did you not take Biology?" I shook my head, "A gene cannot be taken out of you, it is passed down from generation to generation. In the case of this gene it is passed to the first born of each family. Hence why you have it, do you understand a little more?"

"Yeah, I think I am ready to go back."

"That's my girl!" He pulled a small plastic container out of his pocket, inside were what looked like sleeping pills. "These are special sleeping pills, they will make you fall asleep right after you take them, and will allow you to completely ignore anyone or thing that is trying to wake you up until you want to get up. Once room service comes with my order we will take the pills and go see Mr. Slunder himself," I gave him a puzzled look, "your Great-Great-Great grandfather Joe."

"Finally," it was my great-great-great grandpa Joe, "I have been waiting for your return Jack."

"Yes well, you are the reason that I have not been in five years." My dad sounded furious. And then it clicked, five years ago was when my dad and mom divorced, this must have been the reason.

"You know as well as anyone that no one but my own descendants can know about this place." He took a deep breath, "The last thing we need is another 1952."

"Yes well I guess we both have some explaining to do to my daughter."

"Yes we do." He cleared his throat and looked me in the eye, "Violet, what questions do you have?"

I was hesitant; I have so many questions but which one to ask first. "If the first child receives the gene how come your daughter is here and not your son?"

"Well you definitely like to star with the easy questions." He giggled "When I told my son about this place he hated me, when I told him that he is could stop coming, he did, he went, raised a family and died. But before he left he told his sister, Memesa, about this place, and what I had created so when he left I planted the gene in her and now she is the one that stays here with me."

I looked at him with a shocked look on my face and all of a sudden there was a chair beneath me. "Then here is my next question, what does my dad mean that you are in an eternal sleep?"

He smiled and looked to his daughter, she smiled and looked at me and said, "Before my father died I spent months trying to figure out how to keep him alive enough to permanently stay asleep and run Slunderland. When I had it figured out we found a place that we could keep a place for him to stay for all eternity, I injected him with serum and with each new generation we inform them of the location for them to come check in on us."

Now I was extremely confused, "us?" I said

"After I felt that I had fulfilled my life as a scientist and mother, I genetically modified the serum to my DNA and had a lab partner inject me so that I could stay here with my dad."

"Makes sense, now my next question, what happened in 1952?"

That's when Joe stood up, walked over to the wall behind his chair and picked up what looked like a painting of a soldier that look strangely like my dad. "This is my grandson; because his father was my son of course he was passed down the gene. But like his dad he hated this place, I don't know why but he did, anyways so when he came here the first time I explained everything to him and in return he attacked us. He somehow created a similar thing for some people that he just injected into their bodies to come here for a limited amount of time and without the pausing when they leave. He then rallied all of these people together and attacked us here in the capital."

"And what does that have to do with people knowing about this place?"

It was my dad who answered this time, "If people know about this place and the history of it they may want to attack it again. Plus if they know how the gene was created someone might want to duplicate it for all of the wrong reasons. And on top of everything else when the big guy was being put to sleep it was extremely controversial for the time."

It was a lot of information to take in so all I could say was, "Okay then why make it at all?"


End file.
